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Yesterday, the South Branch of the Raritan was stocked with 2200 Rainbow Trout averaging between 14-18" in length this includes the Ken Lockwood Gorge. These are fish that range between two and three pounds. That's not a ton of fish but when you add the 2800 trout that were stocked in the Musky, including Point Mountain and the 1230 that were stocked in the Pequest and it's TCA as well as the 300 stocked in the Black River and a final 940 fish stocked in the North Branch it all adds up to some decent opportunities to catch a quality fish. Given the current low water conditions common for fall, some of these fish are going to be easy targets in the first few days but they will spread out into plenty of available habitat. They join numbers of holdover spring Rainbows and in some cases, wild trout, mainly Browns.
We fished with some avid anglers this afternoon as Renee Rossi and her mom, Donna joined eight of their girlfriends for an afternoon on the water. Conditions were tough but they hooked a few fish both on the SBR and at Point Mountain. There were smiles all around as this was, for several of them, their first time fly fishing. The weather was beautiful and the guides were both knowledgeable and courteous. We all agreed what we need is a little rain. Give the shop a call at (908) 832-5736 or send us an email at shannonsfly@gmail.com to book a trip.
There were fish caught all day but mostly on small flies- egg patterns and midges. A #18 egg trailed by a #20 Zebra midge was a winning combination and the fish we hooked on our outing took those flies. RS2 Emergers and WD40's were also good choices as were small, size 18-22 Flashback Pheasant Tails. We saw a nice caddis hatch in the late afternoon around 5PM, the Neophylax spp. that I have written about in the last blog post. Use a Tan Elk Hair Caddis in sizes 16-18.
Local Hatches 10/12/2019:
Morning 7-10 am:
Trico Torythodes spp. Trico #22-24
Late Afternoon-Evening: 3-7pm:
Dotwing Sedge Neophylax spp. Tan Elk Hair Caddis #14-18, Green Rockworm or JC's Electric Caddis #14-18, LaFontaine's Sparkle Pupa #14-18
Baetis (Blue Winged Olives) Baetis spp. BWO, Adams $18-22
October Caddis Pycnopsyche spp. Orange Stimulator #10-12
I've included two of Tim's most relevant patterns for this time of year a WD40 variant and a guide's version of the LaFontaine's Sparkle Pupa.